By SALINA POST
Salina resident and retired schoolteacher Mike Garretson will celebrate the release of his debut novel, Lucky Duck: At the Mall, in the 80s, with a Dog, with a book signing event at Red Fern Booksellers on Wednesday, March 26, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.
Set in Kansas, Lucky Duck takes readers through a crime-fiction story filled with sports, 1980s nostalgia, and an unusual canine companion. The novel follows Joel Howard, a recent college graduate and former benchwarmer on his small-town college basketball team. Optimistic about his future, Joel envisions a promising career and a stable relationship—until both slip away. Left working at a mall shoe store and desperate for change, he devises a plan to rob the mall’s bank on Black Friday, 1987.
Garretson, who started his writing career covering high school sports for local newspapers, now brings his love of storytelling to fiction. His debut novel captures the energy of the era, blending suspense with a strong sense of place in Salina, Hutchinson, and rural Kingman.
The book signing event will be held at Red Fern Booksellers, 106 S. Santa Fe Ave., in Salina. For more information, contact the bookstore at 785-833-2088 or [email protected].